The most interesting thing about Animal Detective Kiruminzoo
is the show's unique take on the structure of the magical girl team
as well as it's use of multiphasic transformations
In typical magical girl fashion
the series starts with two young girls
twin sisters in this case
discovering a pair of adorable plastic toys which allow them to transform into costumed heroes
in this case named after animals, a rabbit and a cat
and granting them some of those animal's properties
what first sets these transformations apart though
is that where as most magical girls will grow taller, sometimes even becoming adults
or take on battle armor and long shining hair when they transform
the girls in Kiruminzoo actually shrink
and are outfitted in adorable oversized kigurumi
which make them look more like stuffed animals than heroes
this isn't even their final form, however
as the girls can also fully transform into animals
if they experience something similar enough to the emotions that those real animals feel
this grants them the full ability set of those animals
going so far as to leave them unable to speak
and if they stay in these forms for more than 99 minutes
then they become the animal permanently
it isn't just our magical girls who can transform this way, however
their powers are actually based on scientifically recreating the abilities
of an alternate species of humans called Animalians
who are able to freely able to transform between animal and human forms
though they don't have the middle stage transformations that the main girls do
this in itself is pretty different from most magical girl transformations
in that it arguably isn't even magic at all
there powers are based in science
and aren't even completely unique to themselves
where Kiruminzoo really mixes things up though
is in the structure of it's team
joining the twins in episode 2 is their older sister
who transforms into a dog
I'm not sure that I know of another magical girl show
which involves this big of an age gap between members of it's magical team
but it doesn't stop there
as later one of the boys in the girls' class also gains the power
and transforms into a mouse
this guy also has as much presence in the team as any of the other main characters
but even could be said to be the main protagonist much of the time
given that his passion for detective work is what drives most of the episodic stories
really it's his doing that the magical girls end up becoming animal detectives at all
which isn't even really a thing in the early episodes
until he leads them to form a detective club
all these elements are what allow Kiruminzoo to stand out as a unique magical girl series
even though it's structure, episodic stories, and overal tone are about as standard as the genre conventions get
just having an older girl and a guy character around
adds a lot of variety to the ways that characters can interact with situations
and that's not even to mention the greater presence of parental figures, police, and a really bizarre team of antagonists
as compared to most magical girl shows
Kiruminzoo may not be a ground breaking series by any stretch of the imagination
but as a magical girl fan it can be interesting to see how the formula can be shaken a bit
just by adding a few things to the core structure of it
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